Immigration

“If difficult issues go unaddressed by responsible leaders, they will be exploited by irresponsible ones.”

– David Frum

The last time Congress addressed our immigration laws, Ronald Reagan was in the White House. The world has changed dramatically in the last 33 years, our immigration policies have not. It’s time to stop exploiting this issue for political gain and implement a comprehensive revision of our immigration system that both meets our economic and security needs and reflects our values as a society. The pillars of such a plan would be:

Treat all asylum seekers with basic human dignity and respect and process their claims in a timely manner

Secure our borders and ports of entry with a portfolio of technology and human resource based solutions

Emphasize interior enforcement through mandatory pre-hiring E-Verify checks and prosecution of employers who fail to comply

A path to citizenship for many of our 10.5 million undocumented residents who have lived among us for more than a decade, that focuses on security and brings them fully into the fold of our communities

A comprehensive plan to address the security and economic issues across our hemisphere that are driving migration

It’s time to elect responsible leaders willing to make the hard choices necessary to resolve our immigration issue.